One of my goals this year was to become a better photographer. For some reason, I don’t take particularly good photos; however, I wanted that to change and 2016 is the year I follow-through.
In March I bought a powerful camera from my daughter and haven’t used it much. After going through the beginning classes of an online course through Curios dot com, I only have a preliminary understanding of what makes a good photograph. It wasn’t the failing of the class but the failing of me to finish the class. I’m not very good at watching videos for hours on end (movies, yes, instructional videos, um…is that a floor that needs waxing?).
I took a couple (and I do mean 2) pictures with the camera but have never done anything serious with the high tech piece of equipment I now have in my possession gathering dust in the coat closet. I think this week’s challenge from the e-guide 52 Weeks: 52 Ways to Love Your (Wild) Self by Judy Clement Wall is the perfect way to get me to follow-through on my photography goal. The challenge presented by Ms. Wall is to take a picture each and every day for a month, and at the end of the month, put the photos into my blog, share them with someone personally, or put them on Facebook. I suppose I can put them anywhere. After a full 30 days, I should be used to taking pictures and a new habit will be formed. At least, that is the ultimate goal.
What I plan to do is to write a post each week and display my photos then. 30 photos on one blog page seems like too much and I don’t know how to use a collage app, so instead of stressing myself out making me learn another new app, I’m going to post one-at-a time. It seems like it would make a bigger impact anyway. Who wants to see some tiny thumbnail of a stranger’s life? Perhaps they’d like to see the bigger picture?
By this time next Saturday, I will post seven pictures–each one from a slice of my life even if it’s just a photo of me in my beloved jammies at the end of the day when I realize I’ve forgotten to take a picture.
If you’d like to participate with me on this project of 52 Weeks: 52 Ways to Love Your (Wild) Self, you can purchase the e-guide on Etsy. It’s only $15 and it is worth every penny. You can’t start on the booklet any time–feel free to jump in. I’d love the company.
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How great that you’re taking this idea so seriously, it should be a good way for you to get used to taking pictures more! And of course, you will only get better and better with practice, so I think watching those videos isn’t quite as important as practicing.
As far as photo editing goes, I use Picasa a lot. It’s easy to make collages, you only need to select the photos you want and then click “combine” or “collage”. The you can choose to have a border in between photos, save the collage and that’s it. 🙂